Tailpiece for stringed instruments.



H, s'. HELLER @L 1. JoRGENsoN.

TAILPIECE FOR STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.-

APPLICATION lFILEI) MAY 23. i917.

1,296,183. Patented Mar. 4,1919.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN S. HELLER AND JOHN JORGENSON, 0F SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA; SAID JORGENSON ASSIGNOR- T0 SAID HELLER.

TAILPIECE FOR STEIN GED INSTRUMENTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 4, 1919.

Application led May 23. 1917. Serial No. 170,372.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that we, HERMAN S. HELLER and JOHN JoRGENsoN, citizens of the United States, residing at the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tailpieces for Stringed Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to tail pieces for banjos, guitars, and the like; and has for its object to provide a device of this character whereby the strings may be adjusted and tuned to a nicety and one which is conformable and adjustable to adapt it to any sized instrument.

The tail pieces as hitherto constructed in most cases have been non-adjustable and tuning of the strings accomplished by turning friction plugs in the head of the instrument. This is inconvenient and does not permit a fine tuning of the strings.

In the present invention we provide a tail piece readily and easily adjustable to any sized instrument and tted with screwthreaded anchor bolts to receive the strings, said bolts being carried by a pivoted plate which moves angularly to permit different sized bridges to be employed beneath the strings. The connection between the plate and body of the instrument is such that the plate is retained out of contact with the head of the banjo no matter what the position of the head may be. The screw-threaded bolts permit a fine adjustment of the strings and are located within convenient reach of the playing hand, so that tuning may be accomplished at any time without noticeably interrupting the playing.

One form which our invention may assume is exemplified in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows a plan view of a portion of a banjo embodying our invention.

Fig. 2 shows a rear elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 shows a sectional view.

Fig. 4 is a Iview in perspective particularly disclosing the construction of the anchor plate.

The tail piece here shown comprises a U- shaped yoke 10 resting against the periphery of the body of the instrument and having slots 11 formed in the legs near the ends thereof to receive an anchor plate 12, by

means of hooks 13 on the latter. This plate is preferably flattened and has down-turned ends 14: through which extend bolts 15 having at their inner ends hooks 16 to receive the strings 17 of the instrument. The end of each hook enters an aperture in the adjacent down-turned portion 14: to close the hook and prevent turning of the bolt.

, The outer ends of the bolts are screwthreaded and receive a screw-threaded sleeve 18 resting against the adjacent down-turned end of the plate 12 said sleeve provided with a thumb piece for turning the same. lThe fastening yoke 10 is connected to a bolt 19 already in place on the body portion of the instrument, being the usual connecting means for the ordinary tail piece. The inner walls of the slot 11 have spaced notches 20, into which the hooks 13 on the anchor plate enter and are held in place when the strings are tensioned. By having a plurality of` these notches the plate 12 may be moved lto a variety of positions within the slots whereby to adapt the tail piece to instruments having body portions of different thicknesses.

Ordinarily, the outer head of the plate 12, in the case of a banjo, rests upon a ring 21 which retains the parchment head 22 in place on the frame, this ring being adjustable in and out to vary the tension of the head. The anchor plate can always be made to clear the head by the adjusting means shown, j

against the top of the ring 21, thus spacing the anchor plate 12 the required distance from the head 22. The plate, on account of its connection with the yoke 10, is free to swing and therefore the height of the bridge 24 may be varied and the ancho-r plate will change its angular position and remain in a straight line with the adjacent ends of the strings and will be held in a semi-rigid position by the action of the yoke and its bolt as they draw the rear flange 14 against the upper edge of the ring 21.

o connect a string with a bolt, `the latter is loosened until the hooked end leaves its opening in the down-turned edge of the plate l2, whereupon the loop of the string may be slipped over the end of the bolt and the latter retracted to close the hook and hold the bolt against turning. With the playing hand the sleeves or nuts 18 may be turned to adjust the tension of the strings and tune the instrument. The device is Well adapted for attachment toy various sized instruments and is of a character to be sold by music storesat a small price as an attachment for instruments already in use.

' VVarious changes in the construction and arrangement herein shown and described may be made without departing from the spi-rit of our invention as disclosed in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claiml and desire to secure by Letters Patent isl. A tail-piece for stringed instruments comprising an anchor plate, separately adj ustable bolts adapted to engage and tension the strings of' said instrument, and a fastening yoke hinged' to the plate to allow the plate to swing only directly toward and away from the body of said instrument and by which the plate is secured to said body.

2. A tail-piece for stringed instruments comprising an anchor plate, means carried thereby for receiving ends of the' instrument strings and for individually adjusting their tension, a yoke hinged to the anchor plate, and means for adjustably connect-ing' the yoke to thebody of the instrument, whereby the yoke may be raised and lowered.

`3. A tail-piece for stringed instruments comprising an anchor plate, means carried thereby for receiving ends of the instrument strings and for individually adjusting theirV tension, a yoke hinged to the anchor plate, means icr adjustably connecting said yoke to the bodyv of the instrument whereby it may be raised and lowered, and means forv changing the hinge point of the plate on the yoke.

4. A stringed musical instrument having a head across which its strings are stretched,

a bolt mounted at the end of said head, a fastening yokeV secured to said bolt for adjustable movement, an anchor plate pivotally mounted on said yoke for swinging mo-Vement toward and away from the head, individual adjusting bolts held by said plate engaging the ends of and tightening the separate instrument strings, and means for changing the hinge point or the anchor plate on the fastening yoke.

5. A musical instrument having a head across which strings are stretched', a bolt at the end thereof, a fastening yoke engaged by said bolt, an anchor plate pivotally mounted on said yoke for free swinging movement toward and away from said head, and individual adjusting boltsl held by said plate engaging the ends of' and tightening the separate strings of the instrument.

6. A musical instrument comprising a head, a bolt secured thereto, an anchor'plate 7o extending over the head of said instrument, string-engaging bolts heldi by said plate and to which the ends of the instrument strings are fastened, threaded sleeves for regulating the tension of said strings individually by movement of sai-d bolts, a fastening yoke to which the outer end of said plate is secured, and means whereby said plate may have free swinging movement iny relation to said yoke and towardv and' away from the face off the 80 instrument only.

In testimony wliereor1 we. have Vlfiereu-n-to set our hands in the" presence oit two subL scribing witnesses.

HERMAN S. HELLER. JOHN JRGENS-ON.

lVitnesses TW. 7. HEALEY, J. H. HERRING.

Cbp'esl of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each,v by address-ing, the Commissioner of Patenti; Washington, D. G." 

